Greg DeSalvo

Greg DeSalvo was born and raised in Orlando, but it was growing up in a “small business family” that raised his awareness of what a good banker can mean to a company and inspired him to go into the industry. As he put it, “My family had a great financial contact and I wanted to be that guy to other small business owners.”

Everyone has life changing or paradigm altering experiences that shape how we view people and how we respond to clients. For DeSalvo it happened at his first banking job, fresh out of college. He recalled, “This particular customer wore dusty overalls and tracked ‘fertilizer’ into my office.” Adding with a grin, “If you catch what I mean by ‘fertilizer.’ He opened a simple checking account and soon we struck up an enjoyable conversation about sports and current events. We had several more interactions when he would come in and each time spent a little more time than the previous visit. Then about five months into this banking relationship, he walked in with a check for $975,000 to open a new banking account. He had sold his fertilizer business. It was a true ‘Never Judge a Book by its Cover’ experience.”

DeSalvo added, what he enjoys most about the business is “helping young professionals and business owners achieve their goals, e.g. obtaining loans for homes or businesses. I find that most people like to have their own personal banker they can call,” which is why he gives all his customers his cell phone number, (407) 760-4966.